From a hush to pandemonium, LaDainian Tomlinson led his team and a stadium, along with a national television audience, down the sideline and further into the realm of the unprecedented and unbelievable.
“Impossible,” is the word tight end Antonio Gates used to describe his teammate, the one who has time and again done what seems just that.
Tomlinson kept running away with history, the defense was as dominating as it had been all season, and the Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-9 at Qualcomm Stadium last night.
A game that seemed about to slip away came back to the Chargers in the second quarter with a play that, should this season end as the Chargers hope, will be remembered alongside Vincent Jackson's “forward pass” against the Raiders.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson races from Chiefs' Derrick Johnson (56) and Greg Wesley on this 85-yard TD run in second quarter, the longest of his career.
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“A year ago that wouldn't have gone our way,” linebacker Randall Godfrey said of a blocked punt that became a muffed punt. “Everything is going our way this year.”
That play led to another handful of records by Tomlinson and – with a defense that refused to allow the Chiefs' weapons to be dangerous – another victory by the Chargers.
“The defense played lights out,” said Tomlinson, who hurt his jaw late in the game and was to undergo what he termed “precautionary” X-rays. “To hold that team to three field goals and not allow them to score touchdowns was big,” Tomlinson said. “We struggled at times, but we ran the ball well. We did what it took to get a victory.”
In winning their eighth straight game, the Chargers (12-2) avenged their last loss, Oct. 22 in Kansas City, and increased the likelihood they can delay their first playoff game a week.
If the Indianapolis Colts lose tonight against Cincinnati, the Chargers are guaranteed a first-round bye. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Chargers hold the AFC's top seed by a game over Baltimore and 1½ games over the Colts.
“If the Super Bowl has to come through San Diego,” safety Marlon McCree said, “you might as well book your hotel rooms now.”
The Chargers are 7-0 at home for the second time in their history, thanks in large part to the ignition from an alert fumble recovery by long snapper David Binn and the longest run of Tomlinson's career on back-to-back plays.
While not nearly as bizarre as the Nov. 26 play in which Jackson spiked the ball thinking he was down and was fortunate to have the ball bounce forward, the Chargers' fortunes turned last night on another gracious bounce.
Early in the second quarter, the Chargers were forced to punt from their 13, and a nice play by Kansas City became a gigantic break for the Chargers.
On the punt, Bernard Pollard raced around Clinton Hart and got a hand on Mike Scifres' kick. But the ball continued sailing forward, where it was touched by Derrick Ross at the 17, making it the property of whichever team recovered it. After the ball bounced, Binn fell on it, and the Chargers were awarded the ball at the 15.
JIM BAIRD / Union-Tribune
Philip Rivers had an off night, completing only eight passes.
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“I felt like a football player again for a little bit,” said Binn, whose primary duty is to snap the ball a half-dozen or so times each game.
From there, with those watching the game still not sure what had just happened, Tomlinson did what he does best. He scored.
On first down, Tomlinson ran around left tackle and then 85 yards down the sideline to give the Chargers a 14-3 lead with 12:19 remaining in the first half.
The touchdown was his 31st of the season, furthering his NFL record and also giving him an NFL-record eight straight games with at least two touchdowns. It was also his league-record 28th rushing touchdown of the season.
He would finish with 199 rushing yards before leaving late in the game to have the team's medical personnel tend to his jaw, which was initially injured on a run near the goal line in the fourth quarter and hit on a later play as well.
“I think it's going to be fine,” he said. “I'll still play with it.”
Tomlinson's 15-yard run to the end zone in the first quarter was his first record of the night, giving him 180 points, breaking Paul Hornung's 46-year-old league record of 176 in a season.
“It stood 40-something years,” Tomlinson said. “It's mind-boggling to me . . . Some records seem untouchable. To me, out of all of them, that's a tremendous accomplishment.”
It was the second TD that went a long way toward breaking the Chiefs.
On the sideline, as Tomlinson's teammates mobbed him in the end zone after he had sprinted to the third-longest running score in team history, the Chiefs looked up at the heavens and shook their heads.
“They were getting frustrated,” McCree said.
Still, the Chargers' lead was just eight points to start the fourth quarter and again midway through the fourth, but Nate Kaeding made field goals from 30 yards and 22 yards to keep pushing the Chiefs two scores down.
While Philip Rivers, sometimes pressured and sometimes simply off-target, had his worst game in his first season as an NFL starter, Tomlinson not only ran wild but the Chargers' defense continually held firm.
The Chargers sacked Trent Green six times and mostly stopped running back Larry Johnson (84 yards) and tight end Tony Gonzalez (six catches, 53 yards).
The Chiefs had just 241 yards total offense, and the Chargers held an opponent without a touchdown for the first time since shutting out Oakland in the season opener. It was the first time since 1994 they held the Chiefs without a touchdown.
“Wade Phillips and the defensive coaching staff made it a big point we were going to stop (Johnson and Gonzalez),” said linebacker Donnie Edwards, who had an interception and a sack. “Those two guys are 75 percent of their offense. It's extra special for us because they were the last team to beat us.”
Kevin Acee: (619) 293-1857; kevin.acee@uniontrib.com
